Chapter 4: Seeing Is Believing

I groaned, sweat pouring down my face, “Victor” I whined, “This is heavy, come and help us.” Victor sighed and, with effort, pushed himself up off the floor. He trudged over to where Lou and I were, placing his hands on the table which we were, unsuccessfully, trying to push in front of the door. We managed to push it a little further before Victor stopped, wiping his forehead. We both just stared at him.

“What the hell is in this table?!” he shouted, kicking one of the legs. The table legs creaked, then snapped. The three of us jumped back automatically as the tabletop hit the floor with a loud thud, cracking in half. Victor shook my shoulder gently, pointing at the table.

“H...hey Tim.” he said quietly, “Can you see that?” I nodded slowly, trying to swallow the lump which had formed in my throat. I was suddenly beginning to suspect why the table was so heavy. There was definitely something in there, something was dripping from the crack in the tabletop and forming a pool on the floor. Victor began to walk towards it slowly. I grabbed his wrist.

“Victor, please, don’t.”, I shivered. He pushed my hand off but I could feel him shaking. I stepped back, knowing how stubborn he was. I looked at Lou pleadingly, hoping he would do something. He looked back at me, then sighed.
“I don’t think you should touch that.” he said, staring at Victor’s back.

“Don’t tell me what to do.” snapped Victor, continuing towards the table. When he got to it he knelt down and I saw him cover his mouth with his arm. He reached towards the table slowly, barely touching the top with the tips of his fingers. The table rattled and Victor jumped back, landing in the pool of blood which had been slowly forming beneath him. The tabletop slid a little further open and a human hand flopped out. The hand was bloody and had a slightly greenish tinge, as if it had been there for some time. Victor slapped his hand over his mouth and retched. I screamed, running forward and grabbing Victor’s arm. Lou did the same and we hauled him up off the floor, dragging him from the room. We stopped in the corridor and Lou slammed the door behind us, leaving me to hold onto Victor, who looked like he was about to pass out. Lou turned and looked at me.

“We need to find another room.”
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I patted Victor’s face gently. He still hadn’t woken up. Lou and I had carried him to another room after he had passed out. This classroom was much smaller and there was nobody in it. I shifted uncomfortably. I didn’t want to move too much as Victor’s head was leaning on my lap, but I had been sat here for so long that I could no longer feel my legs. Lou was piling chairs on top of a table which we had pushed in front of the door. There was a window at the top of the door which we had pushed open. We weren’t going to cover it in case we needed to get out at some point. We had checked several times that it was the only way of getting in or out of the room.

“Is he still not waking up?” Lou asked me as he slid down onto the floor by my feet. I shook my head sadly, looking down at Victor’s pale face. It felt weird that I was looking after Victor for a change and I felt slightly uneasy, although there was something about Lou that calmed me down. He didn’t seem particularly scared, in fact, if anything, he looked slightly irritated.

“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” I said bluntly.
Lou looked up at me. “If I did, would you believe me?”
I furrowed my brow, “What do you mean?” I replied, “Why wouldn’t I believe you? This is just some sick joke right? Or a dream, I haven’t decided which I would prefer it to be.”
He laughed under his breath, “This is no dream, Tim, and it’s definitely not a joke; trust me.”

“Then please, enlighten me.” I said, becoming quite annoyed with him. He looked at my lap, at Victor, then looked up at me. He signed with his hand for me to come closer. I leaned forward and Victor’s head rolled to the side. Lou moved his face toward my ear slowly.

“You really want to know?” he whispered, his breath tickling my ear. I gulped and nodded.
“That body in the table, they weren’t killed by a human; they were killed by a monster.”
I leaned back from him quickly, knocking Victor’s head, but he didn’t wake up.

“Oh Ha Ha very funny.” I scoffed. “At least make it sound more believable if you’re trying to scare me.”
He leaned forward onto his knees, placing his hands on the wall either side of my head. His face was inches away from my own.

“But you’re already scared, aren’t you?” His voice was barely a whisper. He ran a hand down my cheek slowly. “You’re cold...and shivering, I know fear when I see it Tim.”
He leaned back just as Victor opened his eyes and sat up. “V..Victor. You ok?” I stammered, unable to take my eyes off Lou. What he had just done had kind of freaked me out.
Lou was looking at Victor. For a second, his eyes flickered towards my own, then quickly back to Victor. Victor rubbed his back and stretched, standing up.

“If anyone needs me I’ll be in the bathroom.” he said. He began to walk towards the door before Lou stood in front of him.
“You can’t go by yourself.” he said.
“I’m seventeen.” Victor smirked, “I think I’m old enough to do it by myself.” He pushed Lou out of the way and continued to the door. He looked at the pile of chairs, shrugged, and began to climb towards the open window.
Lou looked at me.

“What?” I mouthed.
He jerked his head in Victor’s direction. I took a deep breath and stood up, using the wall to push myself. I walked over to where Victor was climbing up the stack of chairs and tables. I grabbed his shirt sleeve.
“Victor.”
He turned and looked at me, pushing his glasses back onto his face with his index finger and blowing his fringe out of his eyes. I kept hold of his sleeve, hoping my face would show that I didn’t want him to go alone, and also didn’t want him to leave me alone with Lou after what had just happened.
He sighed.

“Fine, Tim. You can come if you want, but I would’ve been ok on my own.”
“No, we’re all going, no-one’s staying anywhere alone.” I said sternly. Victor looked at Lou as if he was hoping he would say that he wanted to stay on his own.
Lou said nothing, looking down at the floor. I nodded, climbing up the chairs and out of the window after Victor. I dropped down into the corridor. It was even darker than before, if that was possible. I heard a soft thud as Lou dropped down behind me. Victor walked off down the corridor towards the boys’ toilets so Lou and I followed.
I caught up to Victor and began walking beside him; Lou appeared on my other side a few seconds later.
The door to the boys’ toilets was already open when we got there. Victor went in first and I followed close behind him, frightened of us becoming separated. Victor leaned on one of the sinks, cleaning his glasses and tidying his hair. Lou and I just stood back near the cubicles.
Suddenly Victor stopped.

“Can you hear that?” he whispered, moving slowly towards the door and pressing his ear against it. I shivered as I heard slow footsteps in the corridor outside, moving towards this room. Victor pushed Lou and I into one of the cubicles quickly. As he was about to shut the door Lou grabbed his arm and pulled him in with us. Victor looked appalled, shutting the door anyway. He leaned toward it, peering through the gap.
There was a loud slam as the bathroom door flew open and I jumped. Lou put his hand on my shoulder reassuringly. I hoped he wouldn’t notice that I was shaking. Victor stood straight up against the cubicle wall, covering his mouth. He had been looking through the gap so he must have seen whatever it was enter the room.

I could hear it walking around in the room. It was making low grunting noises every step it took, and sounded like it was dragging something along with it. I closed my eyes tightly and bit my lip, trying to pretend this wasn’t happening. I heard it coming towards the cubicle door, OUR cubicle door. I opened my eyes quickly, focusing on the floor outside the cubicle which I could see. It was so close now I could hear it breathing; I could even smell it. It was foul. I saw part of a foot through the gap below the door; it was like a human foot, only the toes were twisted and deformed and parts of the skin looked decayed.

I whimpered and my breathing became heavy. My eyes widened as I continued to look at the foot, which was still moving closer to the door. I squeaked as Lou placed his hand firmly over my mouth; I hadn’t realised how loudly I was breathing. I felt Victor press himself closer against me and noticed that he was edging away from the door.
I was becoming light-headed and my vision was blurring. My knees began to give way but Lou slid his arm around my waist tightly; somehow he had noticed that I was about to faint. The thing outside the door became quieter and I think I heard it walking away. The last thing I remember is Lou shouting Victor who turned around and grabbed me. I remember their voices sounded distant even though they were so close to me.
Then everything went black.